The Tamil Nadu government has identified 21.76 acres at Foreshore Estate, also known as Pattinapakkam in Chennai, for the construction of a new Secretariat and Assembly complex estimated to cost Rs 1,200 crore. The land parcels, belonging to the Tamil Nadu Housing Board, have been earmarked through a Government Order.
The proposed complex is expected to include modern administrative facilities. The project follows an announcement made in the Assembly on September 3 by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, who said the government planned to construct a new premises for the Secretariat and Assembly.
The government’s plan would eventually move state administrative functions out of Fort St George, where the Secretariat currently operates. Vijay had said the historic building would be conserved as a heritage structure after construction of the new complex was completed.
Fort St George was built by the East India Company between 1639 and 1644 and is regarded as the first English fortress in India. It has served as the centre of the state government’s administrative operations, but successive governments have considered relocating the Secretariat and Assembly because of space and functional constraints.
The first reported attempt to shift the seat of government was made by former Chief Minister MGR in 1983. Twenty years later, Jayalalithaa proposed an administrative city near Mahabalipuram. That proposal did not proceed. Subsequent plans to convert Queen Mary’s College on the Marina beachfront into a Secretariat also faced public opposition.
Another proposal under Jayalalithaa involved constructing a Secretariat at Kotturpuram, on the site where the Anna Centenary Library now stands. A bhoomi pooja was held there in 2003 in the presence of ministers, but the project was later abandoned following administrative difficulties and a change in government after the 2006 Assembly elections.
In 2010, the then DMK government under M Karunanidhi laid the foundation for a new Secretariat inside the Omandurar Government Estate. After Jayalalithaa returned to power in 2011, the building was converted into a multi-specialty hospital and medical college instead of being used as the seat of government.
The latest proposal comes as the government is also shifting the Chief Minister’s Office and some key departments to the tenth floor of the Namakkal Kavignar building within the existing government premises. That move would allow some functions to operate outside Fort St George while the proposed Foreshore Estate complex is planned.
The Government Order identifies the land parcels for the project, while the construction timeline, detailed design, tendering process and implementation milestones were not specified in the information available in the report. The new complex is expected to be taken up before the proposed conservation of Fort St George as a heritage structure.
